Starmer plans to ease impact of immigration policy changes after backlash from Labour MPs
Keir Starmer is hoping to soften the impact of his government’s changes to the immigration system after a backlash from Labour MPs and a dramatic intervention from his former deputy Angela Rayner.The prime minister is considering exempting large numbers of people from the proposed changes, which would make it harder to achieve settled status in the UK, as he attempts to keep his restive party onboard.Under the plans, most people would have to wait 10 years to qualify for settled status, rather than the existing five-year period.But proposals included in a government consultation could involve migrants working in the public sector excluded from the changes, as well as those who are on the verge of being settled.Ministers are now debating how far they want to extend those exemptions but Downing Street said on Wednesday they would not cover everyone who had already arrived in the country, as demanded by Rayner and others.
“In the four years before the election, we saw record levels of immigration,” a spokesperson for the prime minister said on Wednesday,“In the manifesto, we promised to deliver a fair and properly managed immigration system,We are considering responses to Home Office consultation, and we respond in line with our principles and values,”Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, announced the proposals earlier this month as part of a package of measures designed to limit the number of people entering the country,The plans would make refugee status temporary rather than permanent and the qualification period for indefinite leave to remain doubled to 10 years in most cases.
Mahmood also announced a pilot scheme to pay families whose asylum claims have failed up to £40,000 to leave the country.If they refuse, she said, they would be ejected forcefully, even if that meant handcuffing children.The home secretary said a key part of the changes to indefinite leave to remain was making sure they applied retrospectively to those who were already in the country, especially to hundreds of thousands of people who entered when Boris Johnson was prime minister.She said in a speech two weeks ago: “Between 2021 and the 2024 general election, [the previous government] oversaw net migration of 2.5 million.
“Absent action, over the next five years, some 350,000 low-skilled workers and their dependents will qualify for settlement.At that point, they will gain access to welfare, free healthcare and social housing.”Mahmood has led the government’s attempts to toughen its approach on immigration as it responds to the rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.But her announcement angered many of her colleagues, who argued that the Green party’s victory at the Gorton and Denton byelection shows Labour faces as much of a threat on its left as its right.A group of 100 Labour MPs signed a letter opposing the measures when they were announced, arguing: “You don’t win back public confidence in the asylum system by threatening to forcibly remove refugees who have lived here lawfully for 15 or 20 years.
”Sarah Owen, a leader of the centre-left Tribune group, compared the threat of force against children to Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).Rayner echoed many of those criticisms in a speech on Tuesday night to the Mainstream campaign group, during which she criticised the changes to settled status.“We cannot talk about earning a settlement if we keep moving the goalposts,” she said.“Because moving the goalposts undermines our sense of fair play.It’s un-British.
”Downing Street insisted on Wednesday that the proposals were fair.But government officials said ministers were now poring over the consultation responses to see how widespread the exemptions should be.As part of the consultation, Mahmood is proposing that some people be given faster passage through the system.Those earning £125,140 for three years, for example, would be able to qualify in only three years, while those working in the public sector would do so after five.But people who have claimed benefits for less than a year would have to wait 15 years in total, while those who have done so for more than a year would need to wait 20.
On Wednesday afternoon Starmer met black and minority ethnic members of the parliamentary Labour party in Downing Street after MPs pushed for talks amid rising anger over the indefinite leave policy.The meeting was also attended by the justice secretary, David Lammy.One MP said there had been “a lot of frustration” with Lammy before the talks, with some feeling senior figures were failing to properly listen to concerns being raised privately and publicly.“There’s a sense the centre just isn’t hearing us, not even on the tone or framing,” they said, adding it “serves no purpose” for Downing Street to alienate its own MPs over an issue so politically and personally sensitive to many in the party.Another MP was more blunt, saying the approach was flawed from the outset.
“It’s always been a poor policy,” they said.
Prolonged high oil prices could ‘crimp’ AI boom, WTO warns
An extended period of high oil prices as a result of war in the Middle East could “crimp” the AI boom, the World Trade Organization’s chief economist has warned.The war and its impact on energy and fertiliser costs is the main risk to the global economy identified in the WTO’s latest Global Trade Outlook.But the Geneva-based body also raised a question mark about the continued strength of AI investment, which in 2025 helped to offset the hit to global trade from Donald Trump’s tariffs.“There is an interesting possible interaction between the Middle East conflict and the AI boom, in part because the boom is very energy-intensive,” said the WTO’s chief economist, Robert Staiger. “If the price of energy continues to be elevated for the whole year, that could put a crimp on the AI boom
Europe’s biggest airlines say fuel price spike caused by Iran war will drive up fares
Europe’s biggest airlines have said the rise in fuel prices caused by the war in the Middle East will drive up fares and are advising passengers to book early.While carriers have partly hedged the price of jet fuel, bosses said they could not keep avoiding passing on additional costs to passengers for long.Long-haul airlines such as Air France-KLM and Lufthansa said they would be adding more flights via Asia with Gulf carriers’ hubs either shut or operating at a reduced level since the US-Israeli attack on Iran.EasyJet dismissed any fears of imminent fuel shortages affecting flights in Europe despite concerns about supplies in parts of Asia, with Vietnamese airlines this week warning that they may reduce schedules.Kenton Jarvis, the airline’s chief executive, said it was “not seeing any issues” with its fuel supply
‘Alright mate?’: Amazon pins UK hopes on AI upgrade of Alexa
“Commiserations, mate, Chelsea lost 3-0 in the Champions League last night against Paris Saint-Germain,” says Alexa as it attempts to break the news gently to an awaiting Blues fan. Such is the injection of personality and understanding that Amazon hopes will lead to Britons re-engaging with their millions of Alexa devices, restoring it to the cutting edge of voice assistants rather than resigned to being a glorified egg timer.After its early access launch last year in the US, the long-awaited generative AI upgrade Alexa+ is finally making its debut in the UK, supporting eight years of existing devices strewn through more than half of UK households. With the UK being Amazon’s most engaged market and more than 40 accents to contend with across the UK and Ireland, the “next-generation ambient AI assistant” has its work cut out for it.The service will be available immediately for new purchases of Amazon’s latest generation of Echo and Show devices, with an invite system in operation for existing devices, which Amazon’s head of Alexa and Echo, Daniel Rausch, insists will progress faster than it did in the US
Inside China’s robotics revolution
Chen Liang, the founder of Guchi Robotics, an automation company headquartered in Shanghai, is a tall, heavy-set man in his mid-40s with square-rimmed glasses. His everyday manner is calm and understated, but when he is in his element – up close with the technology he builds, or in business meetings discussing the imminent replacement of human workers by robots – he wears an exuberant smile that brings to mind an intern on his first day at his dream job. Guchi makes the machines that install wheels, dashboards and windows for many of the top Chinese car brands, including BYD and Nio. He took the name from the Chinese word guzhi, “steadfast intelligence”, though the fact that it sounded like an Italian luxury brand was not entirely unwelcome.For the better part of two decades, Chen has tried to solve what, to him, is an engineering problem: how to eliminate – or, in his view, liberate – as many workers in car factories as technologically possible
March Madness 2026 women’s predictions: can anyone thwart a UConn repeat?
Can anyone derail the Connecticut juggernaut? Our contributors pick the winners, sleepers and upsets for this year’s women’s NCAA TournamentThere have been just four women’s Final Fours featuring all No 1 seeds. This year feels like it could give us the fifth. UConn v South Carolina would be a tantalizing rematch of last year’s national championship game – made even more interesting by the fact they didn’t meet in the regular season for the first time since 2013-14. Texas held off a late UCLA comeback when they played in November, but the Bruins have rolled off 25 straight wins since. EBCircle the date for UConn v South Carolina in the national semi-finals on Friday 3 April
‘The only thing left for me was death’: meet the meth-addict long jumper who has been to hell and back
Three years ago Luvo Manyonga knew he must change his life or die. In Poland this week, the former world champion makes an extraordinary return to athletics’ top tableSprawled prone in the dirt, the cold metal of a baseball bat cracking against his skull, spine and down to the legs that had once propelled him to glory, Luvo Manyonga experienced an epiphany. This existence could not continue; he must change his life or die.Manyonga had been a drug addict for as long as he could remember, seeking recreational highs that provided the opposite of the performance-enhancing shortcuts that some of his deceitful athletics rivals might have pursued.At times, he just about kept his habit in check
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Other nations danced for joy at the World Baseball Classic. Team USA played toy soldiers